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Huneker, James, 1860-1921

"Chopin : the Man and His Music"

Riemann, of course, is different:
[Musical score excerpt]
The metronomic markings are about the same in all editions.
Asiatic wildness, according to Von Bulow, pervades the B minor
study, op. 25, No. 10, although Willeby claims it to be only a
study in octaves "for the left hand"! Von Bulow furthermore
compares it, because of its monophonic character, to the Chorus
of Dervishes in Beethoven's "Ruins of Athens." Niecks says it is
"a real pandemonium; for a while holier sounds intervene, but
finally hell prevails." The study is for Kullak "somewhat far
fetched and forced in invention, and leaves one cold, although it
plunges on wildly to the end." Von Bulow has made the most
complete edition. Klindworth strengthens the first and the
seventh eighth notes of the fifth bar before the last by filling
in the harmonics of the left hand. This etude is an important
one, technically; because many pianists make little of it that
does not abate its musical significance, and I am almost inclined
to group it with the last two studies of this opus.


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